It's now 4:57am. I've been awake since 3am. It's just too hot and humid to sleep nowadays. Probably because of the extra heat generated by Lucas. Decided to forgo my sleep and do something more constructive. There's this thing about working late at night (or you can say, early in the morning) for me. I always feel so at peace with the serenity and darkness. It feels like I'm the only one in the universe! Of course, the few flats that are brightly lit opposite where I stay does not bother me much.

I've been thinking about my students. About the incidents that happened recently. Two discipline cases. In both cases, I feel so much for the boys involved. In one case, 5 boys were asked to meet my P in the conference room for being disruptive and disengaged during lessons. When my P asked for 2 of their school bags to be emptied and checked, I was so amused and surprised to see Chem textbooks in them! Haha! The funny thing was... they didn't even have Chem lessons with me today! Of course, they must have been prepared by their form teacher. Nevertheless, of all their textbooks, they chose to bring the Chem textbook! Though I was happy, this thought still lingers in my mind. Of the 5 boys, 4 seemed to be repentant. They agreed to the 3 terms set by P, and apologised to the subject teachers present for the meeting. However, can they sustain their determination to change their behaviour and attitude? Or will it be forgotten and lost after... 2 weeks? Worse still, will they feel that the teachers are ganging up against them and being very biased even though this is not our intention?

Something else I observed in both discipline cases bothers me. Do we have the right to shout at/ physically hurt another person just because we are angry or provoked? One of the boys commented that it was alright to do that. After all, they are only school children. Who doesn't make mistakes when we are angry anyway? 

Such comments really scare me. So, if one is too frustrated at work/ school, is it understandable that he behaves rashly and goes around bashing up his girlfriend/ wife/ friends in an argument? Will you be able to accept it if you were the victim being hurt?

Then again, is it our responsibility to calm the provoked and to be nice to him even though he commits something wrong?

If everyone of us learns some self-control and anger management skills, the world will definitely be a happier place to live in. 

Regardless of age.